AuthorSamantha Ellis
Samantha Ellis is a British playwright and author known for her insightful explorations of identity, literature, and heritage. Born in London to Iraqi-Jewish parents, Ellis studied English at Queens' College, Cambridge. Her multicultural background deeply informs her work, which often blends personal history with broader cultural narratives. She began her career in theatre, with early plays like The Candy Jar (1996) and Patching Havoc (2003), and later gained recognition for her radio play Sugar and Snow, set in London’s Kurdish community.
Ellis is best known for her literary memoir How to Be a Heroine (2014), which reexamines the female characters who shaped her reading life, and Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life (2017), a biography that champions the often-overlooked Brontë sister. Her latest book, Chopping Onions on My Heart (2025), explores the fading language of Iraqi Jews and the emotional terrain of cultural loss and preservation.
Her romantic comedy How to Date a Feminist (2016) has been performed internationally, showcasing her wit and feminist sensibility. Beyond writing, Ellis has contributed to screenplays for Paddington and Paddington 2, written for The Guardian, and served as a judge for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Award.
She lives in London with her son and continues to engage audiences through her plays, books, and public commentary.
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How to Date a Feminist is a witty, gender-flipping rom-com that challenges modern love with laughter and insight. A sharp, subversive romantic comedy that turns the genre on its head.
Meet Steve, a self-declared feminist raised by a Greenham Common activist, who believes in explicit verbal consent and apologizes for the patriarchy before proposing. His partner Kate, however, prefers lipstick, cupcakes, and literary bad boys like Heathcliff. Sparks fly as their mismatched ideals collide in a fast-paced, dialogue-rich play that’s as thought-provoking as it is hilarious.
With Ellis’s trademark wit and warmth, the play explores gender roles, romantic expectations, and the messy contradictions of progressive dating. From costume parties to coffee shop debates, How to Date a Feminist invites audiences to laugh, squirm, and reflect on what it really means to love in a post-feminist world.
Praised as “witty, slyly provocative and downright lovely”, this play is perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered whether feminism and romance can truly coexist—or whether love is just another ideological battlefield.
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